Between Two Lungs
by Zsra187
Summary: She supposed it was the closest she would ever come to kissing him. Dasey.


Cracking one eye open against the early morning light, Casey inwardly groaned, her throbbing head and puffy eyes a reminder of last night's cry-a-thon. And it certainly didn't help that she was sleeping in the most uncomfortable position. In fact, she was pretty sure that she wasn't even in her own bed. Slowly turning her head, Casey glanced straight up at the face lying next to hers on the pillow. This should have been extremely weird, she thought. Not only was she not in her bed, but she was in bed with someone else. And that someone else was close, so close that she could move her face a few inches forward and their noses would be touching, if she would so choose. Which she didn't, of course.

_Between two lungs it was released  
The breath that carried me  
The sigh that blew me forward_

_Because it was trapped  
Trapped between two lungs  
It was trapped between two lungs  
It was trapped between two lungs_

_  
_  
Trying, and failing, to keep a straight face, Casey smiled. Anyone would have to smile, she reasoned, if they were confronted with a face like that in the morning. Hair in disarray, sticking up all over the place, his face was half squashed into the pillow, mouth slightly open, features almost in a gasp of surprise. She thanked God that she had been the first to wake. Sure, he had seen her before first thing in the morning, with smudged make-up and pillow creases over her face, but there was a huge difference between seeing that and seeing what someone looked like liked to think there should at least be a little mystery left in relationships these days. Not that they had that kind of relationship.

Casey kept completely still, unmoving. The birds outside twittered, and she wondered what time it was. Was it time to get up for school? The weak light that filtered through the curtains reassured her. Five, maybe? Using her arm to prop her up and craning her neck slightly, she looked over the body next to her, across to the digital radio alarm on the bedside table. Five twenty five, over an hour before she had to get up. Absent-mindedly, she pondered how she would manage to get out of the bed without waking him up. They were pretty close, and yes, he had his arm slung across her hip, keeping her close. But she wasn't bothered with that at this very moment, letting her head fall on the pillow and turning her face towards his again. His mouth was open, and he was breathing long, slow and deep, and as she lay there a thought crossed her mind. It was strange, she thought, because she wasn't normally the type of person to do something so stupid. But he was asleep, right? Throwing caution to the wind (and maybe crossing her fingers that he didn't wake up) Casey held her breath and inched closer.

_And my running feet could fly  
Each breath screaming: "We are all too young to die!"_

She could feel his breath. Hitting her nose and spreading across her cheeks, tickling her skin. Casey wrinkled her nose and smiled again. A week ago, if someone had told her this would happen, and her immediate reaction wouldn't be to scream or be disgusted with the situation, she would have laughed in their face and suggested they be incarcerated in the nearest insane asylum. But things had changed, and the realisation that he wasn't such a bad guy had hit her with such intensity it felt as though she'd been hit by a freight train. He had stuck up for her. The look he had given cousin Vicky was one she had never seen him given anyone before. He had refrained from rolling his eyes when she cried the whole car home. He even comforted her when she came to him after she finished talking with her mom. He _comforted_ her. He didn't do tears, she knew. But he put his arm around her shoulders, and then they watched TV in his room until she'd fallen asleep. And that was how she'd gotten into this…mess.

He took a deep breath again, and breathing out, she could feel the air almost caress her skin. She realised she was currently in a position nearly every girl at their school would kill for. Briefly, she wondered what it would be like to kiss him, right now. It possibly wasn't the best idea, she admitted. He would probably wake up, and it would be awkward, and she would be embarrassed, and she'd rather not open up that can of worms just yet. Or ever. Instead she settled herself for carefully moving closer again, so close that their noses were almost touching, a hair's breadth between them. He breathed out, and she breathed in. She could feel his breath as it slipped from his mouth into hers, and rushed down into her lungs. Feeling it mingling with her own, flowing down to the tips of her fingers, Casey breathed so deep she thought her chest might burst. Then, like lightening, she was struck with a sudden wish, a longing to keep his breath in her chest as long as she could, all day if possible. Holding her breath, she soon felt her chest constrict, and a sharp stabbing pain, screaming at her to open her mouth and inhale fresh air. Slowly, deliberately, she breathed out, and he breathed in.

_Between two lungs it was released  
The breath that passed from you to me  
It flew between us as we slept  
And slipped from your mouth into mine, It crept  
Between two lungs  
It was released  
The breath that passed from you to me  
It flew between us as we slept  
And slipped from your mouth into mine  
It crept_

She supposed it was the closest she would ever come to kissing him. Not that she wanted to, she reassured herself. She was just curious, and that was natural. Curious to see what it would be like to have him almost become a part of her, his breath inside her chest. Studying his face, Casey marvelled in his ability to sleep through practically anything, something for which, just this once, she was extremely grateful. Shimmying out from under his arm, which was still draped possessively across her hip, she slid to the end of the bed, and stood up, stretching her arms above her head as she did so. Picking her way through the clothes and CD's that lay scattered across the floor, Casey reached the door and turned the knob, wincing when it let out a tiny squeak. Taking one last look behind her at the boy sprawled out across the bed, she slipped out of his room, and crept back to her own.

_Now all the days of begging  
The days of theft  
No more gasping for a breath  
The air has filled me head-to-toe  
And I can see the ground far below  
I have this breath and I hold it tight  
And I keep it in my chest with all my might  
I pray to god this breath will last  
As it pushes past my lips  
As I..._

_Gasp!_

A few moments after his door had clicked back into place, his eyes were open. He lay quietly, listening intently for any sign that she might still be there. Slowly, he turned his head and looked toward to door. No, she had gone. Turning his face back, he grinned into his pillow. He sure as hell didn't know what had just gone on between the two of them; but hey, he wasn't complaining.

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Song: Florence and the Machine - Between Two Lungs.

Like it? Hate it? Please Review. Constructive criticism appreciated :)


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